Illinois House of Representatives member Carol Ammons has pledged to dedicate the rest of her public life to raising awareness on the origins and enduring impact of the transatlantic slave trade, while advancing calls for reparative justice for people of African descent.
She indicated that reconnecting descendants of enslaved Africans with their ancestral homelands is critical to healing historical wounds and restoring identities that were erased through centuries of slavery.
Her remarks come after she was enskinned as the Queen Mother for Peace and Development of the Paga Traditional Council in the Upper East Region, following DNA findings that traced her lineage to the Nania community in Paga.
The American legislator described the ceremony as a deeply emotional homecoming, reaffirming her commitment to use her platform to advocate for reparations as a pathway to justice, healing and sustainable development for Africa and its diaspora.
“We have been pressed on every side, but we have not been crushed as a people. Our great president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, said, Forward ever, backward never. Yes, we have been pressed, but we have never gone backwards. I thank you for allowing me to travel 5,900 miles back to Nyanya. The policy work I do focuses on the areas where human suffering is often the most hidden, yet the most severe.
“We work in healthcare, human services, consciousness awareness, and personal mastery. We want to build and restore. This is hallowed ground. And I intend to spend the rest of my years ensuring that people understand that the trafficking did not begin at the Cape. It did not begin in the dungeons. It began right here,” she said.
